The French try to escape, an AOE game

We played another game of AOE on Saturday. It was an unhistorical game where the French had to make their way of of the opposite table edge. The Austrians and British (Lee really needs to get some Russians) came in from the flanks and had to stop them. Victory points would be awarded to the French for each brigade removed from the table depending on its current state and if the road was open or not. The allies would receive points for each unit left on the table and closing the road. My Austrians performed great for a change. I was able to pressure the French along the whole left flank up until the last few turns when my cavalry was repelled by the infantry. It was a bad day all around for cavalry though. The one British brigade of cavalry that closed the road ended up getting slaughtered by a flank charge which left the road open again. Here are some pictures of the action on the Austrian side of the fight.



The French start their move along the road out of the trap.





The French form line in the face of the Austrian advance.





French cavalry charges the 13 Wallachisch-Illyrier Grenzer and IR47.





The Austrians put a serious hurting on the French cavalry and drove them off.



Grenadier Battalion Georgy, supported by IR2, pressures the French flank.

The gamed ended due to time constraints with the road being open, but the French unable to get anything off the road. So, my Austrians have their first victory. Unfortunately it required the help of the bloody Brits. Maybe next time I can do it on my own. I look forward to the opportunity.



Regards, Bill

Capture the cross roads. An AOE game.

The Napoleonic period is probably my favorite period. I am in the process of slowly painting an Austrian army. Very slowly. This was the first game of Age of Eagles for me and my friend Allan. The objective was to capture the cross roads. He did it quite easily.

This is the Austrian right. A lot of hard fighting went on here. It was about the only bright spot in the fight for the Austrians and it didn't really go all that well.

The left tries to flank the French. It failed miserably.

A look down the field of battle. Well placed French and poorly deployed Austrians. That's Lee watching the game.

The center just before it's final collapse. I fought back twice but to no avail. The French were just to good.

There was a lot of hard fighting through out the game. The Austrian right held up pretty well, but the center was pushed back a couple of times and couldn't fully recover. The try to out flank the French on the left was an unmitigated disaster. I fought a lot like the Austrians that day. Poorly deployed troops, a week, poorly executed plan, a complete lack of cooperation between the different arms of service. Allen totally mopped up the table with me. It was a great game and we had a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to the next encounter.

Regards, Bill

In the beginning...

Well, the plan is to chronicle my war gaming exploits here. I will be posting pictures of my armies and the odd battle report.
I think I'm like most gamers out there, in that I can't seem to focus on just one or two periods. My interests range from the Dark Ages through WWII. I play a number of different systems. In some cases multiple rules for the same period.
I am far from being a competitive player. The last place you will find me is playing in a tournament. I would much rather play in a huge scenario and just have fun joking around with everyone, and I think that's what I like best about gaming, the camaraderie.
I'm a fair painter and a bad player, but I have fun anyway. Once I have this blog thing figured out I'll also post some links people may find useful.

Regards, Bill